Community unites to bring more homeless youth services to South LA



Jiovonni Tripplett

Jiovonni Tripplett

Dressed to the nines in a grey pinstriped suit, Jiovonni Tripplett hardly looks like he’d ever been homeless. But it was only months ago that the 23-year-old South Los Angeles native stopped seeing the streets as a necessary way of life.

The only child of a mother struggling to overcome drug and alcohol addiction, Tripplett recalls lashing out at other family members who tried to care for him—including his grandmother, who eventually turned the self-described “wild” child over to the county’s Department of Child and Family Services when he was 8 years old.

Tripplett floated in and out of foster homes, and later, youth detention camps—at 13, he stole a car and was released from foster care to juvenile probation services. Ignoring his family’s efforts to help him, he found solace in a gang and racked up robbery and assault charges. [Read more…]